LONG BEACH – Traditionally, when anyone in Long Beach has wanted to alter, remodel or even paint a historic building, the city’s historic preservation officer made sure it was done right.

But tradition may be changing, and that’s one thing that doesn’t sit too well with historical preservationists – they fear it will impact local heritage.

In early June, Long Beach’s historic preservation officer, Jan Ostashay, resigned. City officials say the position will likely remain empty as Long Beach faces a looming $43.3 million budget deficit and expected layoffs.

However, John Thomas, president of the nonprofit Long Beach Heritage, says the position is a necessity.

Assistant City Manager Suzanne Frick said last week that city planners are being cross-trained to handle simple historical preservation issues, such as approving paint for historic buildings. Other larger projects will be contracted out, she said.

“We can actually provide better service to the public and to our customers,” Frick said. “One person was doing the workload of about six people. We cannot provide quality service in those kind of situations.”

Thomas disagrees.

“This is a mission-critical position in town,” Thomas said. “This is not just dealing with current historic assets. This is dealing with what could be deemed future historic assets.”

Frick said the city would contract out work such as compiling Long Beach’s historic resource inventory, completion of the Historic Preservation Element and creation of historic design guidelines.

Thomas said a historic preservation officer should have a deep understanding of historical architecture, experience in the public or private sector interpreting and managing historical resources, knowing state and federal standards, and simply understanding the full role of a historical preservation officer.

“To be doing the job of preservation work, you have to be doing the job proactively,” Thomas said. “You proactively put in place measures, policies to be sure that these (historical) assets are protected properly.”

The officer also works directly with the Cultural Heritage Commission, which earlier this year was reduced from 15 to seven members.

Frick said the unique qualifications of a historic preservation officer is another reason not to fill the position. Finding someone for the job can be difficult, she said.

“The expertise that someone needs to fill that position is incredible,” Frick said.

That expertise is why the historic preservation officer is such a great resource, Thomas said. Ostashay used to be available to the public and helped out city planners, he said.

“We’re talking as if we already have planners that have been trained to an acceptable level,” Thomas said. “My question is who’s going to back up the planners if and when they have a question when the public is there.”

Frick said many cities contract out historic preservation work, while others, such as Los Angeles and Pasadena, still have historic preservation officers on staff. Oakland, a city often compared to Long Beach because of its size, diversity and port-based economy, doesn’t have a historic preservation officer, but there are two planners dedicated to the work, said Betty Marvin, one of the two planners.

She said she strongly supports training city planners to handle historic preservation issues, but that Oakland doesn’t contract out too much work either.

Marvin, who has a background as a historian, said design guidelines for historic buildings have been “nominally” contracted out but are supervised by a planner.

Undertakings such as a citywide survey of historic structures are done in-house by Marvin. She said she wouldn’t trust an outside company to handle the work.

“It’s really, really valuable for the survey to be done locally, whether by staff, whether by some sort of community involvement with volunteers,” Marvin said. “The knowledge is local, and it stays local.”